Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
~Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
A Bit of Encouragement…
I currently have Conway Twitty’s Hello Darlin’ playing in my head right now. It has been a long time. And it is nice to see you.
I struggled with putting TAT on hold nearly 2 years ago. It is something that I love to do. Graciously, those whose inbox receive it seem to enjoy it as well.
In all honesty, I struggled with bringing it back. You may have noticed a bit of that in the email you received a few days ago. I was completely prepared to give TAT a complete overhaul – even down to when it was sent out.
The response was fairly overwhelming. So, as you can see, aside from the face lift, TAT is still pretty much the same. And I am filled with gratitude.
Ideas like “failure” and “give up” are pretty interesting to noodle over.
In July, I DNF’d (did not finish) a race. You can read more about that here
I did give up. And, while I justified it in the physical, it was my spirit that failed.
During that same race there were others who wanted to give up as they were physically shot. But their spirit held on and they finished. My spirit is pretty strong too…I was pretty close to finishing…until I just quit.
I learned a lot from them and about myself. I like to think that if I learn anything then the failure has been redeemed. The only true failure is quitting, giving up, and refusing to glean any lesson from it.
Success is also an idea that has to be addressed on a regular basis as there is no dictionary passage that does it justice. What success is, what it looks like, not only differs from person to person, but across situation, point in time, and perspective. Understanding its dynamic nature cannot be overlooked.
For me, “success” is nearly synonymous with “purpose”. My purpose in my runs is to be better than I was before. Therefore, even when I don’t perform as well I can, the purpose is still achieved and there is the success.
Today I want you to recognize purpose in the things that are important to you but currently feel unproductive, hard, or just no longer viable. If they are truly purposeless, then let them go (heck, maybe you just need a break!) But give the ideas of success, failure, and giving up some real consideration. It is very possible that we really are just that close.
Thanks for the coffee!